The 10 Most Powerful Militaries In The World

As a Marine Corps veteran, I would like to point out that there’s more to military prowess than firepower. There’s no statistic for leadership, no metric for the stuff they pump into you at Parris Island.

But firepower matters ... a lot.

In a world rife with global conflicts, the ability to project power and wield that power decisively is an important national security and diplomatic asset.

The folks at Global Firepower have figured out a way to rank who has the most powerful military.

They measure 40 different stats about a country, including number of aircraft carriers, available manpower, and labor force, to produce a “Power Index,” in which lower numbers equal more firepower.

Note: Nuclear capabilities are not included in this calculation — but Russia and the United States far outpace the rest of the world in nuclear armament, with 8,500 and 7,700 nuclear weapons, respectively.